You probably don't spend a lot of time at your neighborhood bar considering the origins of your booze of choice. But chances are good there's an interesting story behind your cocktail, be it a gin martini or a Jack and Coke.

We recently had the opportunity to visit the distillery an hour and a half outside Louisville, Ky., where Maker's Mark bourbon is made.

The distillery still runs largely as it did when it sold its first bottle back in 1956. The recipe is the same, as is much of the machinery. Of course, there have been a few changes: a water wheel no longer powers the plant, for one.